CDC confirms mold at Key Middle School

Mold at Key confirmed, but HISD taking action, CDC says

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, October 18, 2007

Federal air-quality experts confirmed the presence of mold at Key Middle School but said the Houston school district is taking positive steps to improve conditions there, according to a letter released today.

The two experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also urged district officials to continue monitoring the ventilation units at Key and to communicate better with employees at the northeast Houston campus about their efforts.

The three-page letter from Nancy Burton, an industrial hygiene specialist, and John Gibbins, an epidemiologist, did not address whether the mold found at Key was unsafe or whether it could have caused the illnesses reported by numerous employees and students.

The pair spent two days in late September meeting with Key employees and district officials. They conducted what they called a "walk-through tour" of the school and took three samples — in the teachers' lounge and in one classroom — for fungal analysis.

After reviewing data and further interviewing Key employees by phone, they will issue a complete report, the letter stated.

The Houston Federation of Teachers had been asking the district to abandon Key for three weeks, but Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra initially said that was unnecessary because tests by an independent contractor and city inspectors did not find unsafe levels of mold.

Saavedra agreed to the move after U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, asked federal inspectors to visit Key. Saavedra then issued a formal invitation to the CDC.